Schmitt triggers are used in various applications for providing hysteresis to a digital input of a circuit. There are various known prior art Schmitt triggers available. FIG. 1 illustrates in schematic diagram form a Schmitt trigger in accordance with the prior art. Schmitt trigger 10 includes inverter 12, P-channel transistors 14 and 22, N-channel transistors 20 and 24, and inverter 26. Inverter 12 includes P-channel transistor 16 and N-channel transistor 18. As in most Schmitt trigger circuits, positive feedback is used to adjust a switchpoint of the inverter 12. The positive feedback includes non-linear elements 22 and 24 coupled to the output of inverter 12 to switch the supply to inverter 12 based on logic swing of an input signal labeled "V.sub.IN ". P-channel transistors 14 and 22 essentially provide a divider circuit. A ratio of P-channel transistor 14 to P-channel transistor 22 determines an upper switchpoint of inverter 12. Likewise, N-channel transistor 20 and 24 form a voltage divider to control the low switching voltage of inverter 12.
A current flows through the voltage divider reference circuits causing Schmitt trigger 10 to consume a relatively large amount of power. Also, the gates of P-channel transistor 14 and N-channel transistor 20 are coupled to receive the input voltage V.sub.IN causing increased input capacitance for Schmitt trigger 10.
Power is consumed in Schmitt trigger 10 when the input voltage V.sub.IN is less than V.sub.DD minus a threshold voltage ("V.sub.T ") of transistor 14, and greater than V.sub.SS plus a V.sub.T of transistor 20. P-channel transistor 14 and N-channel transistor 20 will remain conductive causing a current to flow through the circuit between V.sub.DD and V.sub.SS, thus consuming a large amount of current. In order to reduce the current through P-channel transistor 14 and P-channel transistor 22, the gate length of P-channel transistor 22 can be increased. However, if one increases the gate length of P-channel transistor 22, a gate length of P-channel transistor 16 must also be increased. In addition, the gate length of P-channel transistor 14 would also have to be increased in order to give the same hysteresis point. Increasing the gate lengths of these transistors increases the surface area required for implementing Schmitt trigger 10 on an integrated circuit. In addition to increasing the gate lengths of each of the P-channel transistors, a corresponding increase in gate lengths of each of the N-channel transistors would also be required.